"Chunhyang" is an extravagantly beautiful movie that many viewers are going to love and others are not going to be able to sit still for.

That's their problem.

What begins as a charming folktale becomes, in the hands of prolific Korean director Im Kwon Taek, a passionate cultural statement.

It is a wonderful thing to see, in more ways than one.

Im starts out with a traditional tale, of the devotion of an 18th century nobleman's son for a courtesan's daughter. After days making love with abandon,

he appears to abandon her. Im photographs it as a storybook fantasy. Then he frames it within a modern balladeer's stage performance of the tale.

This performance, by pansori singer Cho Sang Hyun, turns out to be one of the glories of the film, but it also is going to require the greatest cross- cultural leap.

Cho is the genuine article. His full-throated singing separates the men from the boys. He is variously sweet, playful, intense, soulful and cajoling. He makes such direct contact with his audience that some of the gutless wonders that pass for communicators today -- in opera, for instance -- should be struck speechless.

It is Im's presentation of Cho that is going to divide the house over "Chunhyang." Connoisseurs will love it. Adventurous moviegoers will be in for a surprise. People like me who are just being introduced here to the art of Korean pansori storytelling -- vocalizing that is both highly stylized and directly personal -- may be by turns intrigued, impatient and finally won over.

In any case, it is an act of audacious filmmaking by Im, in the midst of what otherwise could have been a straight-ahead romantic fantasy.

ILL-STARRED LOVE

"Chunhyang" -- the title is the girl's name -- is going to remind crossover audiences somewhat of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," although here the young lovers are separated by class, not clan. The daughter of a former prostitute, Chunhyang might be expected to be a plaything of the upper class, but she demands -- and gets in writing -- a vow of devotion from her lover, the governor's son. Since the future is unforeseeable, she wants a pledge of eternal love.

As their fortunes change, the lovers are separated and a new governor with an eye for Chunhyang takes over. Even through torture, she remains steadfast in her conviction that her lover will return.

The Korean love of beauty is one of the subjects of "Chunhyang." Unabashedly, the balladeer sings of a country that produces such "pretty people" and of the beautiful landscape that nurtures them. As if to embody the conceit, the film itself is exquisitely photographed.

EXQUISITE BEAUTY

In this fantasy of dynastic-era chivalry, the young stars -- Lee Hyo Jung as Chunhyang and Cho Seung Woo as the ardent aristocrat -- are exactly the eyeful the story requires them to be.

In one sense, too, their splendid costumes tell the tale. When he first sees Chunhyang in her billowing red skirt riding on a swing, he is spellbound. Their marathon lovemaking idyll begins with his very deliberate undoing of the layers of his crisp robes and finally ends in a tangle of clothing and nakedness.

Sometimes, what we see on the screen illustrates what the balladeer has just sung. Sometimes, his voice doubles that of an actor's. He is not the only singer. Chunhyang's mother has a song of celebration in which she exhorts her friends not to bear sons -- "bear a daughter like Chunhyang."

The 64-year-old Im, who has a filmography of more than 90 works, slyly sneaks up on the viewer with his presentation of the balladeer. Cho is first seen in a circle of light in the darkness. Later, his percussionist becomes visible. Then it is clear that they are performing on a stage for a live audience, which is so involved in the tale that some of its members react with tears, eventually of joy. Some even rise to dance. The give-and-take between stage and audience will remind some of a gospel performance.

I don't know if the audience is a real one or a bunch of ringers, and don't want to know. I hope they are actors. The responsive audience is a character in this film, and I envy it.

Advisory: This film contains nudity.

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